The Art of Illumination

Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).

Hours of the Virgin
The Visitation, Folio 42v

The two cousins meet, and the pregnant Elizabeth reaches out to the womb of Mary. The differences between their haloes and between their postures define their hierarchy. Although it is not as rich as the border of the Annunciation (see Folio 30r), the border here, like that of all the pages from the Hours of the Virgin, has a heavily embellished band on three sides, inside the scrolling bryony vines that are on all the pages of the manuscript.